Roadrunner 38cc Gas Airplane

Administrator

The Roadrunner is a classic R/C kit plane that Josh picked up at the 2013 Toledo Show.
Chad sent out David and Josh to pick up "something interesting" and The Roadrunner was what Josh brought back.
The Flite Test team set out to get this 38cc gas powered airplane back into the air!

lumpy member

Flying Derp

Great to see you guys doing a gasser!!! I thought Bixler was an old pro at gas planes. Anyway...it doesn't matter where the fuel tank is located on a gas engine, the gas carb pumps the fuel, glow carbs don't. This gives you freedom to mount a gas fuel tank any where you see fit, typically around the center of gravity. As you may or may not know, glow planes start out nose heavy with a full tank of fuel and will become less nose heavy as the fuel is consumed.

Also, your futaba radio should have an assignable engine kill switch that will totally close the valve in the carb and kill the engine when activated. Alternatively, those old engines will have a ground wire that can be connected to a switch on your plane like your receiver battery switch.

This plane reminds me of a Giant Big Stik I filmed Saturday at my local club with a similar old school engine. Watch how he starts it.

Fly the wings off

This is honestly my new favorite episode hands down. Not just because of the plane, but because you could see the excitetement and anticipation. People were visibly nervous and excited just like I was when I first fired up and flew my big fuel planes. Everyone was excited and you got to see the pros doing something out of their comfort zone. That was cool. Reminds me of a good club day where everyone gathers around to help get something cool in the air. Plus, how cool was it to see a grass landing on wheels. Best quote......."flitetest just got a lot more expensive" LMAO that was great!!! I loved it guys.

Now a personal request for Bixler, take a receiver home and get your extra going again. I would LOVE to see your extra.

Squirrel member

Some guy in the desert

Love it! Wasn't huge on the last "new format" episode but I would absolutely love to see more like this. I was on the edge of my seat watching it and felt more butterflies in my stomach than I did this morning doing a maiden on my Spitfire swappable. I could almost smell that gas engine coming back to life through way out here in AZ

Member

Junior Member

Am I going mental or is that a counter-clockwise prop with the engine going clockwise? I know you can bounce props off compression to get them to kick into starting in the opposite direction but Josh B appears to be giving it a good old flick in the clockwise direction not a bounce and yet quite clearly that prop is designed for "normal" counter-clockwise rotation.
Or are my marbles finally scrambled?

Member

What monkey says, it's kinda like a really big Cox engine with a spring starter. Really handy on those Flywheel motors as they have to have a decent rpm for the plug to spark. Sometimes hard to flip it fast enough. Spring takes care of that.

The bad thing about the flywheel motor is all the weight it puts on the nose. The really nice part is, no extra battery, ignition module or wiring, just flip it and go.